3VZE Timing belt, water pump – Newbes you can do this

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

02-25-2009, 07:45 AM

seisdtaex

Registered User

Thread Starter

iTrader: (1)

Join Date: Jan 2009

Location: Houston, TX

Posts: 41

Likes: 0

Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

3VZE Timing belt, water pump – Newbes you can do this

This last weekend I replaced my leaking water pump. While I was at it, I changed the timing belt, idlers 1 and 2, tensioner, cam seals and crank seal.
For those of you (like me) who are not accomplished wrench twisters, I’m here to say you can do this - it was not difficult so give it a shot!

You will need some fabrication skills to make the special tool (SST) required to remove & tighten the crank & cam bolts. Removing these bolts will be the only challenging step to the repair. I used the SST I fabbed for both the crank and cam bolts.

Start to finish, this job took me 13 hours but, as I said, I am a 40 hr/week desk jockey. I worked slowly and about 1-2 hours were spent (during the reinstall) backing up (taking parts off) because I installed a few things in the wrong order.

My project cost was $400 but that also includes valve cover gaskets, rear cam plugs and plenum gasket (for a much needed valve cover job) along with all the parts mentioned above. I used all Toyota parts ordered from Shannon Brookshire (Tacozilla) at Champion Toyota in Houston. Shannon gives a 25% discount to members of the Tundra solutions forum (or if you mention you saw that). I checked other Toyota dealers and Shannon is the best deal in Texas for OEM parts. He is a great guy to deal with and he will take care of you!

If you are going to do this repair you should have these tools…

Access to a Factory service manual
Thick wall 19 & 17mm impact sockets
½ drive breaker bar (don’t trash your ratchet)
Two and four foot pipes (breaker bar cheaters - for breaking loose the crank and cam bolts)

First and foremost - do the research and read the threads! I won’t bother repeating every step and caution here because they are well documented in several other threads, however,

Read those threads and pay attention to the things other people say to pay attention to…like the orientation of the beveled timing belt guide, the lips on the cam gears, using a digital camera to take pictures for reference (you will use those too)
Before you start, have a clear mental image of what needs to be accomplished but don’t worry if you have a few gaps…as soon as you start, things will clear up.
I typed up a step-by-step check list that I had taped to the wall beside the 4runner. This made it easy to reference each next step. (if you’d like a copy of the check list, the instructions for making the SST or contact information for ordering parts from Shannon, PM me)
You are probably not going to get the timing belt right on the first attempt. To get it right, line up the marks on the crank and the driver’s side cam pulley first. Leave the tensioner spring off and the tensioner nut loose. Then use the slack in the belt to move the passenger side cam pulley to the correct tooth alignment. If you try repeatedly removing the passenger side cam pulley and then installing it on the cam shaft with the marks lined up, you’ll probably never get it right. Spin the engine over twice using the crank bolt to verify timing before you start reassembly.

When you’re done you will feel good about doing this repair yourself!